Modern technology has produced a wide variety of image reproduction techniques. One which has become increasingly popular is reproduction by an ink jet printer of an image derived by scanning a document.
In one class of such systems, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,112,469 and 4,321,627, the scanning of the document is achieved by an oscillating mirror that reflects light from the original document onto a stationary array of photodetectors. The resulting data is then provided to an ink jet array that reciprocally traverses a duplicate page mounted on an advancing drum and prints the image.
In another class of such systems, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,984, the original and duplicate pages are moved simultaneously past half page-width arrays of photodetectors and ink jets, which scan the original and print the duplicate, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,250 discloses an apparatus useful as the scanning/printing mechanism in a facsimile machine or the like wherein an array of photodetector elements is mounted adjacent an ink jet printing head on a reciprocating carriage. Depending on the mode of operation selected, either the scanning or printing elements can be utilized.
While numerous such systems are known in the art, all have certain disadvantages. Many are disadvantageous by reason of cost and complexity. Those that are simple often yield duplicates that are mirror-images of the original. Accordingly, there remains a need for improved reproducing apparatuses, particularly apparatuses that are of simple and inexpensive construction, yet that provide duplicates that are not mirror-images of the originals.
According to the present invention, a reproducing system uses an array of photodetector elements to sense an image from an original document page and a corresponding array of printing elements to print the image onto a duplicate document page. Mirror-imaging between the original and duplicate documents is avoided by electrical or mechanical elements that couple the photodetector and printing arrays.
The foregoing and additional features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following description thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.